Author: tilly

Hi guys! This is going to be the first of many posts on one of my favorite subjects: folding paper!

I’m going to add a collection of tutorials and pictures over the next few weeks, but I wanted to get things started some tips that I give out to all the kids I teach.

If you mess up, don’t worry, that’s half the fun. I keep any weird shapes or animals that I make because often they inspire me to make something else in the future. It’s also a cool reminder to see what you were making in the past and how far you’ve come.

When folding the paper, it’s much easier to fold it away from you instead of at you.

If your hands are messy or you just ate, you’re going to want to wash them first.

Take your time! It’s not a race: Origami is all about enjoying the process, not just the result.

If you’re having trouble with a difficult fold, ask a friend to help out. Even if they aren’t good at folding paper it’s an opportunity for you teach them something new. Plus, you probably just need them to hold or pinch the paper, anyone can do that!

Use the largest sheet of paper you have for a difficult design. The larger the paper, the less accurate your folds will need to be!

Don’t be afraid to use your pretty or shiny paper because you’ll think you’ll mess up! If you’re really worried, you can try with plain paper first, but paper where each side is colored separately can make it a lot easier on you.

That’s it! If you’re looking for other resources, I definitely recommend the International Elf Service’s paper folding for kids. It has plenty of great tips and some good book recommendations, too.

This purse organizer is amazing! I got it in Rose for my Neverfull. One little zipper on the side was just not enough for me. It fits in my purse perfectly, and adds a good amount of structure while remaining flexible.

I was so sick of losing everything to the bottom of my purse. I swear, I’d have to empty it out and reorganize it every week, and I’d find so many pens and lipsticks and packs of tissue being useless at the bottom. Not to mention never being able to find my phone or wallet right when I needed it.

But no longer! This purse organizer is great. So many compartments for all my things. I feel like I’m going to save an hour every day, just by not having to dig around and waste time trying to find things.

I got the one with a spot for my water bottle. I’m always nervous about it tipping over and leaking in my bag. The bottle compartment not only makes it easy to find and grab my water, it keeps it perfectly upright to prevent spills.

Shipping does take a while, since it comes all the way from China. So be careful if you are ordering this just before a trip.

I’ve always been fascinated by origami. You start with plain, flat squares of paper and transform them into incredible 3-dimensional shapes. The forms you can make are limited by the material chosen. By size, of course, but also by the physical properties of the paper itself.

I want to go over all of the different types of origami so that my students have a reference (hey guys!) in the future.

Origami is a compound Japanese word, from “ori”, to fold and “kami”, paper. So, it literally means to fold paper. And it seems as though the Japanese began folding paper for ceremonial purposes as soon as they were introduced to paper in the 6th century.

There have been all sorts of origami developed and designed in the centuries since: from traditional origami to curved folds and origami composed of hundreds of individual units.

Traditional Origami

Traditionally, origami is made from a single, square sheet of paper, and is created without any tearing, cutting, tape, or glue. You know, a thousand paper cranes, each and every one the same.

Alright, first off, let me tell you that Byriah Loper, the author and designer of all these models, is a genius. He’d only been making origami for five years when he put out this book, and it has the most complex modular origami you’ll see anywhere. I mean, except for on his Flickr. And probably his next book.

The best chunk of this book explains how to make wireframe origami models. You make dozens of little paper modules, and form them into complex 3D sculptures. Making the individual units is pretty easy, almost meditative. The tough part, of course, is trying to assemble all the units.

Wireframe assembles are especially difficult because you have to weave all the pieces together. And these are twelve of the most complicated wireframe origami sculptures that I’ve ever seen. Thankfully, the book gives full color photos and directions on how to actually weave the wireframe shapes together.

There’s a lot to figure out and they are still pretty tricky to assemble, but with the pictures and guides it’s actually possible to work your way through. At least, for the ones I’ve been willing to try. I’m not sure if I’ll ever attempt the giant pieces at the end of the book.

If you’ve never done origami before, I’d say this is the wrong book for you. If you’ve never tried modular origami before, it will be tough, but you’ll learn a ton as you work through the early models. The book starts off easier, and ramps in difficulty, building on what you’ve learned. So don’t expect to jump right in to the complex and beastly wireframes and be able to immediately tame them.

If you are drawn to modular origami at all, or need to get a gift for some origami nerd, this book is awesome.